How Hard Is It, Really?
by Chikara Takashi
Summary: I mean, what else can you do when your stuck by yourself with nothing better to do? AxelXRoxas


Hi everyone! I'm back from my (slightly) self-imposed hiatus. I've been working on this for about five months, which is rather sad because it's short. But it's finally finished, and I'm rather proud of it!

I just gotta say one thing: I HAVE NOT FULLY FINISHED KINGDOM HEARTS 2. I keep letting people borrow it, because I am fully caught up in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. So I have not seen what happens. I have heard, though, that Sora and Roxas somehow meet up again. Which got me thinking; where was Roxas the whole time you're playing as Sora? What if, instead of infusing back with Sora (Or whatever the "technical" phrase for it is), he was stuck in the mansion until Sora hacked into the main computer. That's basically the basis for this story.

If it's wrong, I DON'T CARE. If there is no way that this could happen, if it's so wrong as to border on AU, again, I DON'T CARE! I like my story and I hope you will too.

Basically, Roxas remembers everything except for the fact that he's really Sora. Ergo, any of Sora's memories he may have will not really make sense to him. Oh, and I know that he got the memories back, or at least I think he did. But I like my story better this way, so there.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts 2, nor do I own a Razor (which does come up), so pity me. If I DID own KH2, well, this cannon pairing would have been pursued SO much farther in the game.

"**How Hard Is It, Really?"**

"How hard is it to make a beach?"

That was the question Roxas was bound and determined to answer. Stuck in the mansion until someone could hack into the main computer, it was just about the only thing he COULD do. Well, that and figure out what parts of the computer he had access to. Wandering around the digital world, he had found recordings from the previous occupants of the house, and one conversation had started with said question.

Accessing the simulation program and all pertaining documents had been easy. It took him a surprisingly short time to accept that his town didn't exist (it hadn't really felt real the last few days), and afterwards decided it would be the only program to work with. Hey, there weren't any other almost user-friendly programs lying around.

Making a beach, he found out, was also pretty easy. Once he figured out the interface system, all it took was designing a few palm trees, making the sun just the right shade of yellow and the waves the perfect crystal-clear shade of blue. Putting the sand in was also easy, albeit a pain in the butt; how fun can clicking a million times to make a million tiny particles of sand be? So in the end his beach was little more than an island due to lack of patience. Something about the Island struck a chord deep in his memory, and for a moment he had an insane idea to add a tree house and add a few star-shaped fruits to the palm trees. His impatience won the battle, though, and he stuck to just his little normal-looking Island. He eventually ended up at a point where it would be perfect with just a few more aesthetically pleasing palm trees.

And then Axel decided to make his appearance.

He hung around in the shadows for a minute or two, using his cloak as perfect camouflage. Watching Roxas, he waited till all of the palm trees were in perfect position and sauntered over as Roxas studied the buttons for one that would help him get to the beautiful island.

"Hey, nice-looking setup you got there. What's the little island's name?"

Roxas jerked his body around with a gasp, and then slumped against the keyboard (fortunately not pushing any wrong buttons) when he saw Axel's grinning face inches from his own.

"Geez Axel, want me to have a heart attack? It's creepy enough in here as it is"

"Sorry" Axel said, not looking the least bit sorry. He leaned in, peering over Roxas's shoulder at the island again. "But I was serious. That's a work of art right there. So I'll ask again: does it have a name?"

Roxas, during this, had frozen. He was acutely aware of Axel's lean but vaguely muscular shoulder pressing into his own. It was no secret that the youngest of the Organization had a severe crush on the rather egotistical redhead. Demyx, in fact, had lost no opportunity back at the Organization's headquarters to give Roxas a meaningful and slightly wistful look whenever he found Roxas staring lovely at Axel. There was one person, however, who hadn't noticed. This was none other than Axel himself, who seemed blissfully unaware of his little fanboy.

"Um, well… no, I hadn't… I mean, I haven't thought about it much…"

Axel, who hadn't noticed the stuttering, straightened back up and said, shaking his head, "Well, that's just too bad. It needs a name. So… I guess "The Island" would be too obvious, huh?"

Roxas, recovering from his temporary paralysis, sighed and said, "Yeah, probably. Can't very well call it the "Isle de Muerta" either, could we?"

"Nope, no more than we could call it Destiny Is- never mind."

"Huh? Destiny Islands? Was that what you were going to say?"

"No. It's nothing. Forget I said anything."

"Are you sure? Cause it sounds familiar to me…Hmm, Destiny Islands…" Roxas tapped his chin thoughtfully. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he knew he had heard that name somewhere before.

Axel fidgeted slightly. "Look, I said it's nothing. Don't you trust me?"

Roxas laughed at this. "Not as far as I can throw you. And seeing as you're a foot taller than me and probably weigh as much as a horse, well…"

Axel stepped back and mockingly put his hand on his heard. "Wow, you really know how to hurt a guy, don't you? Not only do you not trust me, but you also called me fat. I just… I just can't take it… you just broke my heart…" His lower lip trembling, he turned and put his head down on one of the other computer terminals, fake little sobs coming up every few seconds.

Roxas laughed cautiously, glad Axel couldn't see the panic on his face. He didn't want to hurt Axel, not a little bit. It could ruin his chances. True, he hadn't actually acted on those chances, but he knew he had to soon. He walked up to Axel and tapped him cautiously on the shoulder. "Are you alright, Axel?" Axel responded with a huge fake sob that made Roxas sigh with relief. He had just been joking after all. He turned around and rolled his eyes. "Drama queen much?" he said jokingly, wondering if Axel would respond or just keep up the 'poor me' routine.

So he was surprised when, instead of doing either of those, Axel launched himself from the terminal and tackled him from behind. They both fell on the ground, laughing and mock fighting. After the brief scuffle, it ended with Axel kneeling on Roxas's chest, grinning triumphantly.

"I… was… right… you… ARE… extremely heavy…"

All that got Roxas for his troubles was a push to the ribs by two bony knees. Axel lifted his arms above his head and yelled, "Yes! I arise victorious! I dare say I'm the best there ever was!"

Roxas, who had been squirming, stopped and snorted. "So, you gonna start singing "I am the Champion" now or what?"

Axel looked down with his eyebrows raised. "Ex-CUSE me? Just WHO is the squished one in this situation? You have no room for sarcasm, young man"

Roxas snorted again. Axel leaned down so his face was inches from Roxas's, a mock sneer on his face. "You have no discipline, you know that? Well, I've decided that I am incredibly comfortable here. Mind if I stay a while?"

Roxas froze again the second that Axel's face was next to his. He couldn't even hear Axel anymore; his mind was too busy prancing happily off to fantasy land. He nodded slightly, more for the rather… interesting… images inside his head than for the question that had been posed to him.

"Oh, so you do mind? Fine, then I'll get up as soon as you say Uncle."

Getting no response, Axel leaned back and bounced slightly on Roxas's chest. This brought Roxas rather rudely back to reality with a surprised, "Huh?"

Axel laughed. "So, THAT got your attention? I SAID, you say Uncle and I'll get off of your chest."

Roxas squirmed again. All the images of him and Axel had disappeared completely now that he was faced with an ever growing problem: it was getting harder and harder to breathe. Shifting to where he could draw in a decent breath, He managed to gasp out "Okay… Uncle… Axel, I… can't breathe…"

Axel immediately rocked back to where he was sitting on his heels, his feet on other side of Roxas. He asked, with a rare look of concern on his face, "Oh, god. Sorry Roxas, I didn't… I mean… hey, are you okay?"

Roxas nodded, panting hard. "Yeah, I think I'm okay. Just try not to suffocate me next time, alright?"

Axel, relieved, nodded and broke into a grin. "Will do. You just work on not being a pansy, okay?"

Roxas rolled his eyes and laughed. Axel placed his hands on either side of Roxas's body and pushed himself up. Once he had his balance again, he reached down and offered Roxas a hand up, leaning on the computer for support. He accidentally leaned down on a big blue button, and there was a blinding flash of light that, when cleared, showed that they both had been transported.

Roxas, surprised, blinked and looked around. He grinned when he realized that they had been transported to the island. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and looked up at Axel, who had been frozen in place with a look of wonder on his face. Roxas poked him in the ankle, and he blinked and looked down. When he realized that Roxas was sitting in between his legs, he blushed slightly and held his hand out to him. Roxas accepted the offered hand, dusted himself off, and then turned to Axel, who despite coming out of his daze hadn't lost the amazed look.

"This is… how… but it was just… how did…?" He trailed off, looking at Roxas with a perplexed look on his face.

Roxas, amused, replied, "What, you thought I was doing all of that work for nothing? This is a holographic version of the island, designed so we think it's real… I don't really know how it works but, since it's here, we might as well have fun, right?"

Axel nodded broke into a wide grin. "And that we will."

And so began a day that neither of them would forget. They chased each other through the waves, made sand castles (Hey, no one was there to see them, right?), and even swam a little. Roxas managed to get Axel into nothing but his boxers for that, which made him incredibly happy.

The beautiful day finally ended with a beautiful sunset program that Roxas had found and added to the program in the middle of making trees. He was lying on the west side of the Island with Axel lying next to him, watching the sunset together. They sat their in silence. No words were needed; the sunset was doing all of the talking for both of them. Roxas believed that he had never been happier in his life. The sun set slowly, fading from red to orange to just the tiniest sliver of pink visible on the water. Axel sighed and looked over at Roxas with a half grin hovering on his face, the picture of contentment. Roxas, who had been debating inside his head all day, decided to take his chance. He tentatively leaned over to Axel, prepared to show his feelings. Axel, looking surprised, leaned over to return the favor. Their lips were about to touch…

When Axel's cell phone went off in the robe lying next to him. ((A/N: Yes, I know Axel probably doesn't own a cell phone. But just bear with me, okay? I couldn't think of anything else he would use. Unless he has super-secret mind powers…hmm…)) He swore, then leaned over and reached inside the robe and pulled out a Razor. He opened it, spoke sharply into it and listened to the response, and then hung it up with an irritated grunt. "I'm so sorry Roxas, something's come up and I have to go. I promise I'll try to see you again." He walked behind Roxas, presumably to find an exit.

Roxas pulled his legs up to his chest and buried his head in his knees. It wasn't fair, it just wasn't fair. This was the only time that he had been brave enough to show his feelings for Axel. He had been so close! Without realizing it, he started crying, sobbing into his knees and wishing desperately for what could have been. He stayed that way for a minute, than stood up and prepared to find out how to go back. He turned around, and ran smack into Axel.

Axel grinned. "Just kidding. I couldn't leave without saying good-bye, right?" With that he leaned in and gently kissed Roxas on the lips.

Roxas closed his eyes, seeing fireworks going off on the back of his eyelids. He reached out and wrapped his arms around Axel, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. It was pure heaven, and Roxas had to wonder why he hadn't tried this before.

They stayed that way for what felt like an hour and a second at the same time. Axel reluctantly pulled back finally and sighed. "I really have to go Roxas. But could you do me a favor?"

Roxas, with his eyes still closed, nodded.

"If you ever see Demyx again, could you let him know that's what I meant when I said you made me feel like I had a heart?" Roxas's eyes flew open, and Axel carefully wiped away the tears and gave him another, quicker kiss.

With that, Axel turned around and walked through a doorway made out of two palm trees touching each other and disappeared. Roxas stood there for a second, then walked over to one of the palm trees Axel had disappeared through, dropping to the sand with an idiotic grin and leaning up against one of the trees. He ran his fingers over his lips, then sighed contentedly. For the moment, everything seemed perfect.

Yeah, life was good.

-FIN-

Hope everyone likes it! In case your wondering, it's meant to be a secret whether or not Axel knew about the program.


End file.
